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Newsroom

May 2020

27.05.2020 Cooperation

Switzerland is to contribute CHF 879 million to the coffers of the International Development Association and of the African Development Fund to help fight poverty, promote sustainable development and deal with the health, social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the world’s poorest countries. Switzerland is also contributing CHF 115 million to the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.

26.05.2020 Agricultural research

What stresses wild bees? Is it certain plant-protection products, the absence of nutrient-rich foods – or a combination of both factors? Together with research partners throughout Europe, Agroscope, the Swiss center of excellence for agricultural research, is investigating these issues.

20.05.2020 Scientific cooperation

Horizon Europe, the EU’s next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, is due to start in 2021. Along with three other initiatives, Horizon Europe forms the ‘2021–2027 Horizon package’. The Federal Council requests the Parliament to approve CHF 6,154 billion in funding. If the funds are granted, the Federal Council and the EU will be able to renew their bilateral research agreement and secure Switzerland’s continued and uninterrupted participation in the Horizon package as an associated state.

18.05.2020 Public research

Decision support for car buyers: Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute have developed a web tool called the Carculator that can be used to compare the environmental performance of passenger cars in detail. The program determines the environmental balance of vehicles with different size classes and powertrains, and presents the results in comparative graphics. The entire life cycle of the passenger cars is taken into account.

05.05.2020 Covid-19 & Startups

The Federal Council agreed a guarantee scheme to support promising startups encountering liquidity problems caused by the coronavirus. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO has thus set out the practical criteria for this in consultation with interested cantons and the loan guarantee organizations. Loan guarantee applications can be submitted from 7 May up to 31 Au-gust 2020.

February 2020

19.02.2020 International cooperation

Switzerland intends to contribute CHF 297 million to capital increases at the World Bank Group WBG and the African Development Bank AfDB, They support developing countries by granting loans and providing technical assistance. The Federal Council adopted the relevant dispatch on 19 February 2020.

January 2020

24.01.2020 WTO

At the invitation of Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, a group of ministers responsible for World Trade Organization matters and WTO General Director Roberto Azevêdo met in Davos on 24 January to discuss and define their priorities for the 12th WTO ministerial conference to be held from 8 to 11 June 2020 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

20.01.2020 External affairs

Federal
Councillors Guy Parmelin and Ueli Maurer – who are, respectively, the head the
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) and the
head of the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) – met with China’s First Vice
Premier Han Zheng. The meeting took place in Rüschlikon at the launch of a
capacity-building platform that has been set up as part of China’s Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI).

07.01.2020 Economy

The consumer price index (CPI) remained stable in December 2019 compared with the previous month, remaining at 101.7 points (December 2015 = 100). Inflation was +0.2% compared with the same month of the previous year. The average annual inflation reached +0.4% in 2019.These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).